Purdue seniors restored pride

December 30, 2006|AL LESAR Tribune Staff Writer

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Blame identity confusion and misguided expectations for the problems that crippled the Purdue football program in 2005. Credit a senior class with more character than talent for righting the ship in 2006. Friday night's Champs Sports Bowl game with Maryland was the incidental capper to a reclamation project Boilermakers coach Joe Tiller was thrilled to oversee. The Boilers first stepped on the field in 2005 with ill-conceived dreams of being among the nation's elite, planted primarily by a media throng starved for fresh blood. That season ended in frustration and discontent with a 5-6 record and a renewed commitment from Tiller. "At Purdue, as a staff, we've done a better job of reining in the expectations that were there," said Tiller, who pointed out that the Orlando Sentinel picked the Boilers to win the national championship. "They really got out of whack, out of kilter, a year ago. The expectations were off the radar screen. "This year, we've done a much better job of managing those expectations. Last year, we let the expectations impact us way too much. We had a number of players put their personal agenda ahead of the team agenda." Purdue came into this season with just 14 seniors, four of whom -- offensive linemen Mike Otto and Uche Nwaneri, defensive tackle Anthony Spencer and linebacker George Hall -- were regular starters. Those four and a solid supporting cast made the change happen. "This year, our seniors have led the way with putting the team first; emphasizing to one another the significance of that," Tiller said. "The other day, when several of them addressed the team, last year and the changes that have happened was brought up a lot." Recruit ratings One of the areas Tiller examined after last season was recruiting. He noticed his philosophy had changed. Rather than going after the right personalities that worked within the framework of his program, Tiller and his staff succumbed to the temptation of going after the big-time, five-star prizes -- no matter the character -- and try to fit the program around them. He didn't like the results, even though he was able to land some big fish. While re-thinking the approach to recruiting, Tiller gave up worrying about the observations of recruiting services. This year, with verbal commitments from 17 athletes, Rivals.com rates Purdue 59th overall in Division I football and 10th out of 11 -- ahead of Indiana, which is 81st overall -- in the Big Ten. Illinois is a surprising 10th overall and first in the league. The Illini are followed by Michigan (11th overall), Ohio State (16), Penn State (24), Iowa (25), Wisconsin (33), Northwestern (44), Minnesota (48) and Michigan State (49), before the final two. The Boilers do not have a recruit with more than three stars on Rivals' five-star scale. Big man in Orlando After leaving South Bend in disgrace after a very brief stint as the head football coach at Notre Dame, the billboards around town attest to the fact that George O'Leary is a popular guy in Orlando. The University of Central Florida football coach, whose resume problems precipitated his firing from Notre Dame after just a few days, is lauded on the billboards as the honorary chairman of the area's United Way campaign. He's also close friends with Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen, who was O'Leary's offensive coordinator at Georgia Tech. Blood and guts Maryland went through a recovery process similar to Purdue's. The Terrapins endured two 5-6 campaigns before finally straightening things out. "My senior class was the first to come all the way through with me," said sixth-year Maryland head coach Ralph Friedgen. "This class took it upon itself to re-establish itself and our program. It wasn't always easy and it wasn't always flashy. Just a lot of blood and guts got us through it."